Poverty

Allow not yourself to be poor
A degrading key to misery’s door
It sucks the man in human
And leaves the soul in demand

Lord, if I desire to be poor
Let not your light shine at my door
But if this be not my fault

Punish me not by default

SERVANTS OF THE EARTH

Indentured servants of the earth
Loving it as a whole
To let it serve all as one
And take only as needs be
What blessings it has to offer
For all of humanity

World Peace

A friend of mine asked me recently whether I believe that World Peace is really possible. I responded in a very jovial manner that I was not contesting for Miss Congeniality, but I love peace. In any case I took the question very seriously because apart from those contesting for miss this-and-that beauty pageant, even our politicians and nongovernmental organizations seem to chant World Peace whenever the opportunity presents itself. I have used it a few times…we all do every now and then; I mean the good guys.

Do I believe World Peace is possible? I have too much faith in humanity not to believe that we are capable of peace just as we are capable of evil. However, we must not equate world peace with an absence of skirmishes; we cannot survive without little misunderstandings that can lead to a disturbance of the peace. My hope is that in a peaceful world, we would be capable of finding humane solutions to our problems.

People often cite heartless brutes like Hitler to make a point that humans are not all that good. Point uncontestable, but we must also remember that while Hitler was on his mission to extinguish whatever was not Aryan, a slim fellow named Mahatma Gandhi was on a mission to unite the world with love even for one’s enemy. My point is that world peace remains impossible because not many of us believe in it. Evil doers are often determined to achieve their aims, while the good give up all too easily in the face of bigotry.

Ghandi teaches us that in order to achieve the purest anarchy, which I choose to call World Peace, we must be willing to offer love for hate, because ‘an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.’ The Bible offers similar instructions when Jesus asks us to turn the other cheek when slapped in one, and offer our coats when our cloaks are snatched away. Some might think this is impossible to do, but think of a society in which everyone is willing to follow these instructions. We wouldn’t have to worry about getting slapped or thieves taking our cloaks away.

So World Peace is not impossible, but we have to be willing to make concessions for one another. But I must acknowledge that we have to use other channels towards the ultimate goal of World Peace. We must seek equal rights, justice, and a socialist ideology that make each of us think that our lives are incomplete if others must suffer to make us happy. Thus I admonish every Miss America to change their dreams as of now into a quest for equality and justice for all. I bet you will earn the crown.

HOPE

Hope brings forth night
And the break of dawn
Cock crows the morning
To the start of day
Even those without plan or chore
Hope brings courage at dawn
To the lowly wretch
As fall flowers blossom in spring
So too may we smile
As stars someday will shine
Even on the wretched divine